Which has higher lower secondary school starting age, Sierra Leone or Tonga?

Sierra Leone, at 12 years against 12 years in Tonga as of 2025.

What is the difference in lower secondary school starting age between Sierra Leone and Tonga?

0 years, with Sierra Leone ahead.

How many years of comparable data are there for Sierra Leone and Tonga?

56 years are reported by both, from 1970 to 2025.

Where does this data come from?

Data API, UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), published as Lower secondary school starting age (years). Statizoid refreshes it automatically from the source and publishes the full history for both places.

Sierra Leone vs Tonga: Lower secondary school starting age

Sierra Leone

12 years

in 2025

Tonga

12 years

in 2025

Sierra Leone rank

30th

Tonga rank

30th

Lower secondary school starting age over time

Sierra Leone
Tonga

How they compare

Sierra Leone currently reports 12 years against 12 years in Tonga, a difference of 0 years.

The two have swapped places 2 times across 56 shared years of data; in 1970 it was Tonga ahead.

Sierra Leone ranks 30th and Tonga ranks 30th of 209 countries.

Sierra Leone has averaged higher in every one of the 6 decades both report.

Head to head by decade

Decade	Sierra Leone	Tonga	Difference	Ahead
1970s	12 years	12 years	0 years	—
1980s	12 years	11.4 years	0.6 years	Sierra Leone
1990s	12 years	11 years	1 years	Sierra Leone
2000s	12 years	11 years	1 years	Sierra Leone
2010s	12 years	11.8 years	0.2 years	Sierra Leone
2020s	12 years	12 years	0 years	—

Averages of every year both report within each decade.

Frequently asked questions

Which has higher lower secondary school starting age, Sierra Leone or Tonga?: Sierra Leone, at 12 years against 12 years in Tonga as of 2025.
What is the difference in lower secondary school starting age between Sierra Leone and Tonga?: 0 years, with Sierra Leone ahead.
How many years of comparable data are there for Sierra Leone and Tonga?: 56 years are reported by both, from 1970 to 2025.
How do Sierra Leone and Tonga rank globally for lower secondary school starting age?: Sierra Leone ranks 30th and Tonga ranks 30th of 209 countries.
Where does this data come from?: Data API, UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), published as Lower secondary school starting age (years). Statizoid refreshes it automatically from the source and publishes the full history for both places.

Individual pages

Share, cite or embed this page

Cite this page

Sierra Leone vs Tonga: Lower secondary school starting age. Statizoid, drawing on Data API, UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). Retrieved 18 August 2026, from https://education.statizoid.com/compare/lower-secondary-school-starting-age-years/sierra-leone/tonga/

Embed or link this data

Paste this into a page to link back to these figures. The data itself is free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (World Bank Open Data); please keep the attribution.

<a href="https://education.statizoid.com/compare/lower-secondary-school-starting-age-years/sierra-leone/tonga/">Sierra Leone vs Tonga: Lower secondary school starting age</a> — Statizoid

About this data

Indicator: Lower secondary school starting age (years)
Unit: years
Source: Data API, UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
Licence: CC BY 4.0 (World Bank Open Data)
Coverage: 209 places, 11,411 data points, 1970–2025
Last refreshed: 06 August 2026

Lower secondary school starting age is the age at which students would enter lower secondary education, assuming they had started at the official entrance age for the lowest level of education, had studied full-time throughout and had progressed through the system without repeating or skipping a grade.